1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air and water tight carrying case that is adapted to safety transport a portable work station and permit the work station to be operated in a hostile environment while the case is closed.
2. Background Art
Portable work stations have been commercially available for several years. More particularly, a personal computer, printer and various other computer peripherals are packaged within a carrying case to facilitate the transport and storage of the work station. Being that the work station is controlled from inside the carrying case, it is necessary to first open the case (i.e. raise the lid) to gain access to the appropriate computer hardware. In the event that the work station has been transported for use in a hostile environment and the lid of the carrying case is raised, the hardware inside the case could be subjected to the adverse effects of moisture, sand, heat, cold and a corrosive atmosphere. As a consequence of the foregoing, the stability and reliability of the computer hardware may be undesirably effected thereby rendering the work station unsuitable for many data computing and transmitting operations.
It would therefore be preferable to have available a rugged, air and water tight carrying case in which to safely transport a work station for use in a hostile environment without subjecting the work station to possible damage. That is to say, it would be desirable to be able to operate the work station in a normal fashion in a non-hostile environment with the lid of the case open to permit manual access to the computer hardware. However, it would also be desirable to be able to operate the work station with the lid of the case closed so as to isolate the computer hardware from the atmosphere when the carrying case is transported to a hostile environment.